Nov 10 Concert Review: Russ Diemon

Saturday November 5th, at Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit, one of Hip Hop’s future heavyweights took the stage and absolutely rocked it. To say he rocked it doesn’t quite do it justice, and is actually an understatement compared to the way he had the venue bumping.

Doors opened around 9, and then we made our way in. Here’s where things got a little rough, and this is quickly becoming a major peeve of mine – there was no opener! I understand that budgets can be tight and it’s not always practical to book an opening act, but I personally think it would be dope if artists made use of this down time to give a chance to a local artist or two to come out and get a little shine in front of their hometown crowd, but instead we just waited there with nothing to do for a half hour or so until Russ came out; as annoying as that was at first, it was quickly forgotten once things got going.

Saint Andrew’s only has a capacity of about 1,000 people, so it’s generally a very small and cozy experience, but that is not at all what this show was like. With the energy that was radiating from Russ, combined with that of his receptively rabid fans, it genuinely felt like there were 10,000 people in that crowd, it was surreal!

Everything comes with pros and cons though, and I’d like to take a moment to preach on concert etiquette for the masses. General admission means first come, first serve – so if you want a good spot, come early like the rest of us. It is just rude, and very much a buzz kill to have some obnoxious drunk trying to fight their way to the front of the crowd because you feel entitled to a spot you made no effort to get. Secondly, you know we’re all going to be packed in tight, so please don’t come to the venue smelling like shit; try showering and wearing fresh clothes, it does wonders. Lastly, I get it if you want to enjoy a blunt during the show, but I’d love it if you could pack your weed properly so that you don’t wreak of it all night and maybe you could even smoke it in the back? I guess what it all comes down to is this: just be considerate of others, it’s not all about you.

Now that my mini-rant is over, let’s get back to the concert. One of my favorite parts, and something that was pretty crazy, was Russ stopping to sing Happy Birthday to some random girl in the crowd, I thought that was a really dope moment and captured his personality to a tee. Halfway through his set, he caught wind that it was her birthday and got the entire crowd to join in as we all wished her a happy birthday; who does that? Your favorite could never… I also have to salute his effort, this man came out in a Grant Hill Pistons jersey, but I gotta dock him points for not rocking the teal throwback; however, after scrolling through his Instagram, I feel comfortable calling him a Loso-lite with his jersey game, but we’ll just have to check back and see where he’s at in 5 years.

Russ isn’t really the biggest artist yet, and that’s not a knock on him, it’s just a fact. It’s not really fair to call him underground either, but he’s definitely a low-key treasure. This is why it blew my mind to be there amongst this sea of Russ fans that seemed to know every song by heart, from verses to hooks to bridges, everything. This really stood out when he performed his newest single “Do It For The Stunt,” which wasn’t even a few weeks old at that point, and the crowd was right there with him word for word. The feeling of that night is just something that’s outside of my ability to describe with words: it was truly indescribable.

He performed a bunch of great songs, including many of my favorites, but there was one song I felt like we missed out on. He didn’t perform Comin Thru and that honestly is one of my greatest regrets, with that venue and that setting, the vibes of this song would have been crazy and would have just elevated the night to an even greater level of insanity. Regardless, he still exceeded my wildest expectations and put on a helluva show, and for that I am grateful. It was a great success.

“San, I don’t listen to Russ, tell me more about him!”

Well, if you haven’t been exposed to Russ yet, I recommend starting out with two of his most popular songs, “What They Want” and “Pull The Trigger,” I’ve linked them at the bottom.

If you want to know what makes him special, just know that he does it all. Russ literally writes, records, produces, and masters his own songs; this really allows him to take it to the next level because he’s truly in tune with the music, he’s a musical genius.

If you do enjoy Russ after checking out some of his music, feel free to move on to literally anything else of his, it’s just about all-good. If you’re a big 50 Cent fan, like I am, (and even if you’re not) you definitely have to check out Russ’ album “How To Rob.” How To Rob is an 8-track album where he goes through and steals iconic beats from Tupac, T-Pain, Kanye, Dr. Dre, Jay Z, Biggie, 50 Cent, and Drake, and then borrows their flow to absolutely body the track. It’s an interesting concept, and certainly a way of paying homage to the way 50 Cent broke out onto the scene with a track of that same name. I’m including a link to that too because I thought it was pretty damn cool.

My brother once told me, “Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you what your truth is. The truth in art is all we have.” Ever since that day, I’ve been committed to writing what I feel, and sharing it with others. My struggles aren’t all unique, and somebody had to be the voice of the voiceless.

My brother once told me, “Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you what your truth is. The truth in art is all we have.” Ever since that day, I’ve been committed to writing what I feel, and sharing it with others. My struggles aren’t all unique, and somebody had to be the voice of the voiceless.

Coeur Noir is an autofiction novel written by Al Patron. The title is Haitian Creole for black heart or heart of black, in reference to the traits of the main protagonist, Nikolas Daniel...who may or may not be based on Al Patron himself. A coming of age novel Coeur Noir will evoke emotional reactions ranging from but not limited to crying & laughter, all while detailing a path to greatness for Al Pa...pardon...Nikolas Daniel.